An Easy Last Day in Helsinki

Monday, 14 July 2014
Helsinki, Finland
Temps: Hi 72F (22C) / Lo 61F (16C)

What constitutes an easy day for us?

It’s not necessarily the level of physical energy we expend.  When we’re traveling in ‘vacation mode’ we seldom, if ever, just sit still. 

For us, an easy day is often measured by the dearth of images we capture — no particular reason other than … well, I really can’t put my finger on the “why” of it.  The reason doesn’t really matter anyway.

Sometimes an easy day is a quiet, aimless stroll.  Sometimes it’s visiting places we’ve been to before.  Sometimes it’s the weather that makes the day easy.  And sometimes it’s a combination of all three — which is what happened today to make our last day in Helsinki an easy one.  We simply limited the shutter clicks and enjoyed each moment as it happened. 

Waking up to overcast skies at 7:00a cinched our decision to have a leisurely day.  When we went down to breakfast, the lobby dining room was not nearly as active as it was yesterday.  Only a few of our shipmates were still at the hotel.  We had breakfast with the same couple that we had dinner with when we joined our Quark group on 1 July — I guess you could say we came full circle and wrapped up our expedition adventure the same way we started it.

Common Tern

Despite the overcast, we decided to take a walk around Eläintarhanlahti, the bay behind the hotel.  As it was a workday, the path was quiet.  Despite the rain that sprinkled on and off, we appreciated the chance to stretch our legs before tackling our luggage in preparation for the trip back to the US.  We have two overnights en route — one in İstanbul and another one in Washington, DC … they help to break the journey into smaller chunks, but these stops also mean taking care with what we put where to ensure we have serviceable clothes along the way.

Summer color around the bay.

When the sun came out and the skies showed patches of blue, we were seduced into leaving the packing chore incomplete and going out for another walk.  This time, we went in the opposite direction, taking a shoreline walk/bike path to North Harbor — a roundabout way of getting downtown, but it wasn’t like we were in a hurry, so we just enjoyed the quiet stroll.

Along the path are docks for vessels to moor — private ….

… and commercial alike.

Our meandering walk took us to the neighborhood across the channel from Uspenski Cathedral.  We debated crossing the pedestrian bridge to the warehouses where we had dinner when we returned to Helsinki from Murmansk two days ago.  Nah … a different experience was in order.

See the awning on the right, that’s Ravintola Sipuli … where we had dinner on Saturday.

So, we kept on going until we ended up at Kauppatori [Market Square].  In addition to booths that sell everything from fruits and vegetables, to flowers and plants, to craft items and souvenirs, the square is home to a number of food vendors.  Some of them serve coffee and sandwiches, but the large majority serve seafood — primarily sea salmon, vendace (freshwater whitefish), and octopus rings — with a variety of sides ranging from potatoes to vegetables — perfect for a casual lunch.  I have to admit that the food, piled on a plate, looks messy and unappetizing, but it tastes very yummy … especially the salmon — seasoned with lemon pepper, whole red peppercorns, and sprigs of dill.  Truly some of the best I’ve had anywhere.

Great street food!

Salmon	Vendace and Sides

Mui’s combo platter — with salmon, vendace, and potatoes and vegies — doesn’t
look appetizing, but don’t be fooled by appearances … it was all very tasty.

Our tummies sated, we wandered around a bit, walking up to the Esplanade Park to get some ice cream from one of the Pinguino vendors — the very yummy, orange-infused chocolate flavor from the Finnish chocolatier Fazer is worth going out of your way to find.  Sorry, no photos of the ice cream — not only did we slurp down the first cone we got, but we also finished the second one we picked up from another vendor before we even thought to take out the camera.  I know it’s not the same, but to make amends … here are images of some of the color that caught our eye this afternoon.

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It was 3:00p when we decided to return to the hotel.  Mui suggested an alternate route, but I wanted to follow the same path we took to get downtown.  You see, I had an ulterior motive — a stop at Relandersgrund, a lightship-turned-café, for a couple of cold brews to toast the wonderful time we had in Helsinki both before and after our North Pole expedition.

The lightship was active from 1888 to 1937.

In July 1914, ML Relandersgrund was sailed to the southern shore of the Gulf of
Finland and sunk by Russian seamen celebrating the revolution.  raised in 1918,
it was repaired in Tallinn, brought to Helsinki, and converted into a reserve
lightship.  It was decommissioned in 1937, and served as an expedition ship
under the name of Vuolle until it was sold for scrap in 1978.

Scenes around … and from … Relandersgrund … the boat café.

Celebrating the wonderful time we enjoyed in Helsinki!

The sun, which had been playing hide-and-seek, came out for a while, giving us a chance to sit on deck to enjoy our beer and the views of the city and the harbor.  After a while, we noticed dark clouds on the horizon.  With our umbrellas and rain jackets in the hotel room, it was time to make tracks and retrace our steps back to the Hilton.  We made it just in time — raindrops were starting to fall as we crossed the street and entered the lobby.

A glimpse of Finland’s icebreaker fleet from Relandersgrund …

… and peeking through the mast of a sailing vessel in the marina.

Thus we quietly wrapped up our stay in Helsinki.  These extra days in the city post-expedition were the result of a mistake we made with the date of our return flight to the US — so glad we made that faux pas.  Tomorrow we fly to İstanbul on the first leg of our trip back home. 

Photolog II: Seurasaari Open-Air Museum

Sunday, 13 July 2014 (Part III)
Helsinki, Finland

Continuing with the third post for our visit to Seurasaaren Ulkomuseo [Seurasaari Open-Air Museum] — the intro and the story of our day is here; the first part of the photolog is here.

[Click any image for a larger version.  The text is from the brochure and the signage at each property.  The photos are grouped; where necessary, captions are above the groupings for ease of reference.]

Kahiluoto Manor

The rococo style house was built in 1790 on an island owned by the families of military and government officials since the 15th century.  A 1796 drawing of this modest country manor indicates that a group of outbuildings stood near the main house.  There was also an informal garden that was typical of the gentry culture of southwest Finland in the 18th and 19th centuries, and a park with pathways.  At Seurasaari, the manor is fenced in, and the small park behind the house includes an empire style summer house from the 1830s, with doric columns framing the semicircular porch.

On the ground floor is a drawing room, a dining room, a kitchen, a reception salon, a bedroom, a room each for the master and the lady of the house, and a nursery.  Upstairs is a drawing room, two bedrooms, a sitting room, and a summer room.  The interior of the house still has a number of the original furnishings in the Gustavian style, as well as examples of later styles. 

Pertinotsa

The structure was transported from eastern Karelia, which was ceded to the Soviet Union after WWII.  Built between 1850-1884, it exemplifies the type of northern Russian house in which the dwelling and the shelter for the livestock were under the same roof.  The main room upstairs was the center of daily life; a room next to it for guests.  Storerooms are located on the level below.  The shelter for livestock was at one end of the building on the first floor, with a hayloft above it.

Florin Summer House

The neo-gothic summer house stood in the garden of a house owned by Professor Florin at the corner of Bulevardi and Yrjönkatu streets in Helsinki.  In 1912, it was donated to the museum along with its furnishings.  (Closed today.)

Country Store

The store and its storehouses were built around 1871.  It sold everything that the self-sustaining farms couldn’t produce, and also functioned as a post office, bank, and local news agency.

Windmills

Of the two mills we saw, one was the so-called Dutch type, also known as the “mademoiselle” due to its shape, which resembles a woman’s hoop skirt.  It was built in 1894 and was in use until the 1940s.  This type of windmill spread to western Finland in the 18th century.  The second windmill was a hollow post “magpie” named for the long beam used to turn the mill into the wind.

Mademoiselle Windmill

Magpie Windmill

Tomorrow is our last day to have fun in Helsinki.  I think we’re really going to try to take it easy … need to rest up before we begin the three-day trek home.